Tuesday, May 6, 2014

The Full Story of the Iraqi Jewish Archive

Here is the full story of the Iraqi Jewish Archive.  It's clear that many of the objects are of a personal nature and not as claimed by some ardent repatriationists merely government documents about Jews. All documents of a personal, religious or community nature should go back to their true owners or to the Iraqi Jewish Community in exile.   Repatriationist principles should not apply where the nation state stole the artifacts in question as part of ethnic cleansing.  It should be simple as that.
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3 comments:

  1. David KnellMay 8, 2014 at 12:31 PM

    Thanks for linking to the update, Peter. Sad to see one or two predictable racist remarks among the comments but I'm hoping decent common sense will prevail.

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  2. Cultural Property ObserverMay 9, 2014 at 4:38 AM

    Thanks David. It would be great if some on the cultural heritage side of things spoke out on this. I know a few who are generally very pro source country but think this is just wrong. But, of course, if they don't say something silence equals acquiescence in the minds of the State Department bureaucracy. Still, one would hope that statements by the House and Senate will have some positive impact.

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  3. David KnellMay 12, 2014 at 8:50 AM

    Sorry for the late reply - hectic weekend! As you may know, I posted about this issue on my own blog back in March. For me, it is not so much a matter of being "pro source country" as being pro source culture (geography and culture are not always the same thing), especially in this particular case. I certainly hope legal action will not be necessary to force the US government to do the right thing but thanks for your later update.

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Henceforth, comments will only be posted from those who provide a full name, country of residence and basis for interest, i.e., collector, archaeologist, academic, etc. or their Blogger profile provides such information.